What this boils down to is second chances. New starts. Fair shots. Sounds very American to me. As a criminal defense attorney who has represented many individuals charged with criminal acts, I have seen first-hand those clients who have a lot to offer society, but are shut out because of an isolated mistake.

It turns out, taking a Mulligan, doing it over, is the key to survival in today's convoluted, fast changing economy. If you have chosen to give reinventing yourself a try, make sure you do it correctly.

It is both unfair and inaccurate to place all of the blame for unemployment solely on job seekers. Employers are less than perfect, too. In the current job market, technology has changed many of the "standard" practices. So it's a new ball game for both employers and job seekers.

What 4-and-a-half-year-old girl wouldn't want to spend a day with Elsa from Frozen? Certainly not Ariel Shipp of Jacksonville, Florida. And luckily for her she had the opportunity to do just that last month, though Elsa bore a startling resemblance to her mother, Amy.

You are definitely more than just a job title. Focus on the aspects of who you are that you like the most and seek to fulfill them on a daily basis. You'll feel better about yourself and your situation, and maybe you'll even develop a healthier perspective about your identity than you had when you were working full time.

As companies focused more on the bottom line, they began to refer to workers as "assets" and when times got tough, they looked at which "assets" to cut. "Do more with less," "Get rid of the fat," and "leaner and meaner" were the propaganda slogans that sent chills down workers' spines. Older workers quickly read the writing on the wall.

It never occurred to me that I would be unemployed in mid-life. Well, yes, it had occurred to me when my tits were still perky and my mind malleable, so I went to grad school, got a Ph.D. and embarked on what was once a promising and stellar career. But after I found myself in the cross-hairs of those in institutional power, my carefully-constructed career came tumbling down.

Job hunters are like houses waiting to be sold; the longer they are on the market, the harder it is to sell them. In the case of houses, real estate agents change their strategy or update a property's details to generate leads.

We can push the limits of our existence, but there is never any guarantee it will work out to our expectation. But if we take what life gives us without any fight, we may or may not like what we get either, yet in this case we have no input in actively shaping our lives.

You need to stay busy, ground yourself (meditation and exercise) and stay engaged with real friends (only the positive ones) so that you can go out into the world with confidence and let an employer know why you will be their next great hire.

Have you gotten tired yet hearing how broken down and dysfunctional we have all become in our advancing years? If we are smart, we except our shortcomings, find a way to overcome them and move on with living our lives to the fullest.